E34 M5 Suspension

[Shake&Bake]

A friend of mine has had an e34 m5 for about 5 years now and it has recently developed suspension issues (fubared!). The exact details I'm not familar with but it must be fairly terminal if he was looking at replacing the entire suspension. He is looking for an alternative to the original as he has priced original replacements which work out at about 850 euro a corner!!!

Now when I say alternative I mean a cheaper solution to this not an Intrax, KW's etc that will be most likely be better but won't save him money.

If this topic has been done before I apologise but couldn't find anything in the search options. A little point in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[gavm5]

Get yourself over to M5Board.com and do a search on edc
If you choose to keep car original using BMW dampers then yes this can be expensive, but equally so can deleting the edc standard setup and replacing with conventional springs and dampers.
There is a company called Sportline who were offering a refurbishment service of the original setup.
Welcome to the achilles heal of e34 M5 ownership

[Shake&Bake]

Thanks for the heads up Gav, will pass on the info.

[Shake&Bake]

Although after seeing some of those reviews of that company you mentioned on the m5board I might wait for a few more suggestions.

[gavm5]

I do not have experience of them, but there is a very lentgh thread on M5Board.com regarding the rebuild service.
When the standard edc is in good working order it is a very good setup especially when considering how old an e34 M5 now is.
I have owned both an early 3.6 e34 M5 with self levelling on the rear only and also a 3.8 e34 M5 Limited Edition with switchable edc.
Neither really gave me any real suspension problems but I since swapped for an e39 M5 which of course has conventional springs and dampers.
Do a search also for the "e34 M5 domino effect" as the dampers alone will only be half the story.

[mmm-five]

I got all mine replaced with Darjac's custom kit - much better than the standard stuff on road & track - but I did always like a slightly firmer ride anyway.

If the suspension components haven't been touched in a long time, then you'll probably find that the £850/corner turns out to be more like £1200 a corner when you add in all the other components that will need to be replaced at the same time. My custom kit cost about £1500 fitted.